On any given day, students face any number of distractions. The last thing students need impeding the educational process, is teachers who preach their unwarranted and unrelated opinions.
We’ve all had professors who will intermittently interject their personal beliefs into lessons. This in itself can become annoying, but not entirely detrimental. However, some take it further; structuring lessons around their personal rants, or skipping valuable information to make their point.
Just because we don’t pay university or state college tuition, doesn’t mean we should have to make do with professors whose secondary objective is to teach and primarily to preach.
Do not get me wrong, there is nothing harmful with an educator who imparts a bit of their personality into a lesson to capture the minds of students. However, what I’m talking about here is full-on campaigning of their personal values to students.
Have you ever sat through a class, only to feel as though you just watched one big political slam ad? Have you ever felt like you just listened to a religious conversion persuasion?
Only some of you may relate to extreme instances such as these, but I’d be willing to bet most of you have heard professors marginalize other fields. “All economics professors will have you believe this, but that’s because they’re all that.” “Don’t listen to anything philosophy teachers will tell you because they all think this.”
Professors will marginalize other fields and the practices they teach, because they feel their way is better. This happens more often in classes with similar general ideas. Moreover, it’s usually not just a case of “our grass is greener” but more of “their grass is dead.”
This becomes disheartening to the student who maybe has a passion for the opposed field. Professors will strip other classes and their corresponding professions of merit and worth.
Professors should understand that they are the most impressionable people to students, especially when it comes to their academic paths and success. Many students have likely decided not to major in certain fields because a professor has repeatedly hammered in the diminishing of said field.
A professor should focus on relaying the best knowledge they can to their students, so they can make an informed decision on their own about what is right for them.
Professors who preach personal beliefs and values are more than a distraction or annoyance, they may turn students off school completely or lead them down educational routes that don’t do their skill sets justice.
